#mutcd

[Link to Part 1] [Link to Part 2] [Link to Part 3]

52. Just Like Heinz

Some miscellaneous things I forgot to include.

Image 1: Wrong Sign AND Wrong side of street, double whammy.

Image 2: Further proof of Californication.

Image 3: Nonserious, nonstandard, remaster fodder. It's fine.

Image 4: Why is the "F" capitalized? The road is called "Southface Drive". Did it used to be "South Face Drive"? do do do do x files theme conspiracy confirmed

Image 5: That's fun, add a little bit of life to the world. Sign does not pass inspection anymore. For Seacrest DOT's sake, let's hope the sigh has the graffiti-resistant laminate finish.

Image 6: Remaster fodder.

Image 7: Business entrance on an interstate? Big no-no.

Image 8: I've heard of crash-rated, but this is ridiculous! If you get even a little close to signs in this game, the signs get disturbed and fall down. Even AI do this, and it causes them to hit it and slam on the brakes. Does not pass inspection, because when inspection was being performed, the signs fell down in a slight breeze.

Conclusion

The road signs generally make sense, especially when only considering signs from the base game. However, many of them are nonstandard and non-compliant. Does any of this matter? No, not really. It's a video game from 2010, not a warning of imminent death.

Side note: This game is beautiful for being 15 years old, even before the remaster's few and far improvements. I also love the little details the map design team put in, little bits of life, in-universe brands and such. It makes Seacrest County feel like a real place you could go to. I also like 95% of the songs on the soundtrack, it's very nice and definitely has influenced my taste in music. Can you tell that I like this game?

Released in 2013, Need For Speed Rivals is one of the Need For Speed games of all time. Being a racing game, the roads are a big part of the game. But, how well do those roads hold up to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD)?

I decided to answer this question because no one else cares enough to. This long, grueling process took over two weeks because I didn't feel like writing this Tumblr post for two weeks.

Let's start where I began.

Why is "valley" not capitalized? How did no one catch this mistake at the sign making shop?

Also, that I-4 sign is so very wrong. That is not how you inform someone which highway they are currently on. Below is a much better option.

Just slap one of these on the roadside and you're saving money on overhead signs.

Why is there an arrow? The exit isn't there. It's way up the road. Why is the arrow there?

It's up ahead as well. With enough stupidity, someone could sue the Redview County DOT over this.

So close.

For the most part, I love the sign. While having more than one arrow is not advised, I can ignore that for getting the rest of the sign correct. They even got the exit number sign on the right, like it should be (because the exit is on the right)! However, why is it an exit only? There is no lane that must exit. In fact, there's barely a lane. The exit lane lines just kind of end at the concrete and don't go to the actual highway lanes, so there's no obvious way to get to the exit.

Also what is that physical gore sign up there? Where did they get it? Did they make it themselves? It is so very incorrect. I don't even know where to begin, so I won't.

I'm not even going to question this.

The local DOT must be sponsored by an overhead sign company because there are so many overhead road signs that really don't need to be overhead.

Not only is this a blatant waste of metal, but who the fuck is this sign pointing to? There is no lane there. Why does this sign exist?

Also why does every sign have its own illumination? I know California is like that, but still.

You know what, I'll accept this.

It's a bit close to the road, but I'll let it slide.

This sign is fairly small and low.

Difficult to see at 70 MPH.

Why is "STOPPING STANDING ANYTIME" both smaller than "NO PARKING" and not the correct font?

Also, the "EXPECT DELAYS" electronic sign is very dusty and hard to see.

The lane does not end.

This same sign is down the road again.

There are black and yellow striped pylons separating one of the lanes for some reason.

Redview County is in ruins.

There we go! A Correct sign!

"EXIT RIGHT" is unnecessary, but other than that, it's pretty good! This is what that Kingfisher Road sign should've looked like. The Exit sign is even in the correct place! Very good.

Why does one sign say "Drive" but the other only says "Dr"?

Also, how does it go from West I-4 to East US-24/SR-12? Also also, the Interstate just kind of ends with no signs to state so.

Nonstandard sign, as per usual.

ok im bored now

SCHOOL (1971)

S1-1 (School advance sign).

S2-1 (School Crosswalk)

S3-1 (School Bus Stop)

MUTCD Monday is an unscheduled weekly post where I review a (usually) nonstandard road sign that I'm (usually) criticizing.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTCD, "defines the standards used by road managers nationwide to install and maintain traffic control devices [road signs and stuff] on all streets, highways, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and site roadways open to public travel".[1] It's The Bible for US road signs, markings, and lights.

This week, I have no ideas. Doesn't matter. No one gives a shit about these anyway. So I'll throw together a few disjointed ideas and other garbage and call it a day.

1. R3-8 NO PARKING (symbol) sign confusion

Old editions of the MUTCD and Standard Highway Signs (SHS) publications show the R3-8 NO PARKING (symbol) sign with a black border (Left). This includes the updated 2024 edition of the SHS publication. However, the 2023 11th edition MUTCD shows it with a red border (Right), like all the other parking restriction signs. Who's correct?

2. Roads named after Martin Luther King Jr.

Many, MANY places across the United States have named roads after Martin Luther King Jr. However, his name is long, so different places have come up with different ways to represent it on street name signs.

Hamilton, Ohio, for example, does it a few different ways.

(Top Left) Splitting "Martin" and "Luther" into two different lines, but keeping "King Jr." normal.

(Top Right) Doing that but referring to his father by leaving the "Jr." off.

(Bottom Left) Abbreviating it to "M. L. K.", and once again referring to his father.

(Bottom Right) Spelling out the whole thing in tiny letters. There's also an example of this where they leave off the "Jr."

In Covington, Kentucky (Left), they abbreviate "Martin Luther", but keep "King". Columbus, Ohio (Right), does this with appropriate spacing so it looks less weird.

Baltimore, Maryland (Left), splits his name into two lines. Cleveland, Ohio (Right), splits his name into three lines, along with a little graphic.

Several other places just narrow the font and hope for the best. Also, side note, it's very inconsistent on whether abbreviated things get a period after them. Some places also put a comma before "Jr."

3. Community wayfinding sign arrows

Community wayfinding guide signs are signs for giving direction to local attractions or points of interest. They are more lenient with rules, allowing custom colors (as long as they aren't the ones used on more important signs), different fonts, pictographs, and mildly different shapes.

However, it specifically says arrows must conform to the standard set earlier. These arrows are the standard ones used on road signs.

But for some reason, virtually everyone uses their own arrows. Shown below are examples from Miami Beach, FL (fun fact: Miami Beach got specific approval from the FHWA to use Futura font on their community wayfinding signs), Columbus, OH, Cleveland, OH, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, and Albany, NY.

They ALL have incorrect arrows. Nearly identical incorrect arrows, in fact. In my 10+ minutes of searching, I only found one example, Akron, OH, of community wayfinding signs with correct arrows.

I don't even care that that's probably not the correct parking symbol. They got the arrow right, which is already leagues ahead of everyone else. They also used Highway Gothic font, a slightly boring but definitely good-looking and proven choice.

That is one point to Akron, OH, against the rest of the world's 20 million points (joking, from my little stroll on street view, it actually looks pretty decent).

MUTCD Monday is an unscheduled weekly post where I review a (usually) nonstandard road sign that I'm (usually) criticizing.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTCD, "defines the standards used by road managers nationwide to install and maintain traffic control devices [road signs and stuff] on all streets, highways, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and site roadways open to public travel".[1]

This week, I'm insulting California because it's easy to do. Specifically, I will be reviewing the CA MUTCD, California's version of the MUTCD.

California has this weird thing where, instead of creating a new MUTCD or an official-looking supplement, they took the federal MUTCD, crossed out parts they don't like, and add in new stuff in blue Arial text.

I'd also like to note that this is based on the 2009 MUTCD, not the 11th Edition 2023 MUTCD.

L: There's no way you're seeing these at highway speeds.

R: Who hurt you, California? What are these signs? Frankly, they look like shit.

L: Why? Please just say "TRUCKS USE THIS LANE" or something like a normal person.

R: Hey, I saw a sign similar to this in the Road Guy Rob video that turned me into a road sign autistic! What the hell does "KINGPIN TO REAR AXLE" mean?

There is so much I could say about the parking signs, but I'm not going to.

L: You know what? I don't hate this.

R: I hate this.

L: Am I the only one who thinks the circle looks weird? It looks weirdly squarish.

R: What does this even say? The text is so small and zooming in only makes it more pixelated.

L: I feel like the center Type 3 Object Marker is a weirdly specific thing to remove. They replace it with basically the right and left ones stitched together to make a double-width sign.

R: California still cuts out the black on the US Route shield because they're special and think they're so cool and still live in the 1930s and god damn the state shield looks strange without the "CALIFORNIA" text.

ok im bored

MUTCD Monday is an unscheduled weekly post where I review a (usually) nonstandard road sign that I'm (usually) criticizing.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTCD, "defines the standards used by road managers nationwide to install and maintain traffic control devices [road signs and stuff] on all streets, highways, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and site roadways open to public travel".[1]

This week, I am putting this out on Tuesday, since I got halfway through this yesterday, hit "Save as draft" and it disappeared into the ether.

You know how railroad crossings exist? You know how some of them have more than one track? You know how there's usually a sign to denote that below the crossbuck? (left)

I think we should have a sign like this below the Grade Crossing Advance Warning sign (W10-1) (right). California does too, and they came up with this:

What. The. Actual. Fuck? Why is it yellow on black on yellow? Why does it have two borders? Why isn't the sign cropped to size?

It looks so awful. If California had any points for good signs (see CA MUTCD, a topic I'll probably return to), they have been and will continue to be nullified until this sign is thrown in the shredder.

In response, I made a few of my own designs for a "# TRACKS" plaque.

I have four designs. Top left is all one line, top right is a rectangle with the "#" and "TRACKS" on separate lines, bottom left is the same but cut out to the shape of the standard "# TRACKS" sign, and the bottom right is basically just the standard sign but on a yellow background.

These designs are by no means final. I didn't realize the number was larger than the text until I was doing the bottom right one. Future revisions would probably make the number larger.

MUTCD Monday is an unscheduled weekly post where I review a (usually) nonstandard road sign that I'm (usually) criticizing.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTCD, "defines the standards used by road managers nationwide to install and maintain traffic control devices [road signs and stuff] on all streets, highways, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and site roadways open to public travel".[1]

This week, I marvel in how god damn ANCIENT street name signs were until the 90s or something.

Both of these signs were in front of a 1970s housing development in Indiana. Neither of them are new, but the one on the left looks ancient.

In my mind, since the 1950s or 1960s, street name signs just looked like the ones on the right. But apparently no, that change didn't happen until the 80s or 90s. The one on the left reeks of 1940 way more than it has any right to.

But maybe this only applies to some areas? I have heard about how until the 1970s, Chicago had yellow street name signs, and they removed nearly all of the yellow ones. Nearly. Some were forgotten about.

This is much closer to what I expected street name signs to look like since the 1950s; flat stick of metal with some capital letters printed on.

Maybe the places that had embossed signs in 70s wanted to look older? Fancier? I don't know. Just an observation.